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Role-playing Game Origins of the Malazan Series
The core foundations for the Malazan novels of Steven Erikson and Ian C. Esslemont were born in the role-playing game sessions they began at Canada's University of Victoria in the 1980s. The two were flatmates while attending the college's creative writing program and shared similar interests in history, archaeology, and anthropology. They started with Dungeons & Dragons, but soon found the game system "too mechanical and on occasion nonsensical" so they moved on to GURPS (the Generic Universal Roleplaying System), which offered the spontaneous narrative flexibility they were looking for. Although role-playing games tend to be designed with the idea that a single referee guides the actions of multiple players through an adventure scenario, Erikson and Esslemont played one-on-one sessions with each alternating as referee and player. Erikson says he ran a "very narrative, dialogue-heavy, often action-less style of game" that forced characters into moral quandries. The early Malazan games ran for three to four years and largely covered the backstory of the foundation of the Malazan empire. Many members of the Malazan Old Guard were game characters created with characteristics and roles delineated by the gaming rules. Erikson says, "This all became the grounding of the fictional world we then created, and those who have gamed will see the basic gaming elements at work in our tales. To be specific: the Malazan Empire was founded in a tavern called Smiley’s in an island city: its core of players were a balanced party of sorcerers, fighters, assassins, thieves and priests." The pair integrated their intellectual interests by gaming the deeds of Malazan's 'great people' and examining the effects of their actions on both the conquered and the conquerers. Then they would replay or expand on these events by taking on the roles of the soldiers caught up in the wake of their leaders on both sides of the conflict. In this way they covered the Malazan invasions of Quon Tali, Seven Cities, and Genabackis that led up to the beginning of the first published Malazan novel, Gardens of the Moon, as well as gamed the general events of that book itself. Gaming went on to form a general timeline for both Erikson and Esslemont's books to be filled in with additional characters and storylines created by each author. Erikson estimates that perhaps as much as twenty percent of the novels come directly from their original gaming sessions. Esslemont states that almost all of the books in the series were gamed to at least some degree, although some such as Blood and Bone were derived from "talked-through sketches and events." But the gaming details used in the books "represent only a fraction of all that material". The authors' style of one-on-one gaming is one reason why character duos are so prevalent in the novels (Shadowthrone/Cotillion, Quick Ben/Kalam, et al.) However it was also not uncommon for Erikson or Esslemont to play multiple characters simultaneously. Erikson recalls playing the roles of Rake, Caladan Brood, and T'riss in one series of games. They were also not above departing from game rules when it served the overall story. Esslemont says "we drove the true gamers mad with our blatant disregard for the mechanics of the game. We neither of us cared for what the dice said and preferred instead the unfolding of poetic truth. Excellent, inspired, or entertaining role-playing always won out over the dictates of the rules." Although Erikson has revealed that some key story points were left to chance. "Believe it or not, the clash of two major characters in Toll the Hounds was decided on a single roll of the die. If it had gone the other … well, I shudder to think." Erikson and Esslemont mapped the world collaboratively with Erikson outlining most of the continents. Esslemont says there were times he was handed a "blank continent" which he "then filled out with peoples, cities, civilizations, and such. Usually who was ‘running’ that game determined who would fill in the map. For example, Steve ran me in north Genabackis and so filled all that out. Then, later, I ran Steve in south Genabackis and filled out all the south." Both men continued gaming even after they were no longer roommates, but career opportunities soon took them to different parts of the world. Erikson continued one-on-one sessions with his friend, Mark Paxton-Macrae, creating the story of Karsa Orlong. He also refereed a more traditional game with five players whose characters formed the basis of Fiddler's squad in the Bonehunters and who helped guide the events of the final books in this part of the series. Gaming Elements found in the Malazan Novels Below are the characters and events that Erikson and Esslemont have specifically tied to their role-playing sessions in their writings and interviews. It is by no means a complete list. Characters played by Erikson *Anomander Rake *Bauchelain -- Invented along with Korbal Broach for a friend's game. The game was short lived as the friend "found them too scary to deal with." *Caladan Brood *Cotillion *Dancer -- Erikson says Dancer was "the first time I ended up playing the straight-man...to one of Cam's characters Kellanved in a game, and oh, it was good fun." *Iskaral Pust -- Invented for the novels, but later used as a non-player character in the games. *Korbal Broach (see Bauchelain above) *Kruppe -- One of Erikson's favorite characters to play "especially since he hardly ever did anything." *Manask -- A "300 pound thief...who instead of picking the lock, walks through the door, physically." *Rallick Nom -- Created by Erikson, but first run in a game as a non-player character by Esslemont. Erikson and other players first encountered Rallick outside the walls of Darujhistan. Rallick was a "serious bad ass...he scared the crap out of us." *T'riss Characters played by Esslemont *Baruk *Coll *Greymane *Kellanved *K'azz D'Avore *Osseric -- introduced as a foil for Anomander Rake. *Rhulad Sengar -- Erikson says Rhulad's 'condition' was gamed and that he was crueler to the character in the game than in the novel. *Shadowthrone -- originally named "Dr. Wu", a name based on a Steely Dan song title.https://www.facebook.com/steveneriksonofficial/posts/935728986579402 *Whiskeyjack Characters played by Erikson or Esslemont (but unspecified) *Cartharon Crust *Fiddler *Hedge *Kalam Mekhar *Laseen *Mallet *Murillio *Quick Ben *Urko Crust Characters played by Others *Bottle *Fiddler's squad of the Bonehunters -- Erikson ran a game with five friends covering the invasion of Letheras and through the events of The Crippled God. (Does not include Corabb and Cuttle). *Karsa Orlong -- Played by Mark Paxton-Macrae in one-on-one gaming sessions with Erikson, who says Paxton-Macrae had no idea he was playing a Toblakai. House of Chains, where Karsa first appears, is dedicated to his player. Events from the novels that were gamed *The plot of Gardens of the Moon was largely shaped by gaming: **Erikson says, "the events in the city of Darujhistan leading up to the night of fete were all gamed" with the action broken down into small groups. For example, Kruppe, Coll, Murillio and Rallick formed one group while Whiskeyjack, Mallet, Fiddler, Hedge, Quick Ben, and Kalam formed another. An entire campaign was dedicated to Whiskeyjack and the squad infiltrating Darujhistan.Read for Pixels 2016 Interview See 1:35:50 **Unbeknownst to Erikson, Esslemont based the game grouping of "Coll, Murrilio and Rallick, with Crokus thrown in" on the Three Musketeers. **The Fete at Lady Simtal's estate -- The affair was fully gamed including Kruppe, his face smeared with pastry, meeting Anomander Rake. **Rallick facing Turban Orr -- An encounter whose resolution depended on a roll of the dice. *Anomander Rake's visit to the Isle of the Seguleh and recovery of the Tyrant's mask -- Esslemont says he created the island to take a "cocky" Rake "down a notch or two". Rake "barely escaped with his skin! It was a hilarious night of gaming." *Kellanved and Dancer’s conquest of Seven Cities *Malazan conquest of Quon Tali *Blackdog Forest campaign -- Run By Erikson for Esslemont involving the Malazan campaign on Genabackis before the events of Gardens of the Moon. *Karsa Orlong's story in Book 1 of House of Chains -- Erikson says he dragged his player "through hell" and that later events involving Binadas Sengar were dictated by the "immense frustration" of Karsa's player and surprised even Erikson. *The fate of Lieutenant Ranal and the ambush that precipitated it.House of Chains, Chapter 26 *Jheck -- Played a central role in gaming events that are now only "ancillary history" per Erikson. *The many deaths of Rhulad Sengar -- Erikson said he gamed this scenario to "create a rather unusual sword that upended the seemingly perfect gift it offered" and question "what would it be like to die over and over again?" *Possibly the duel between Anomander Rake and Traveller -- Erikson says "Believe it or not, the clash of two major characters in TtH was decided on a single roll of the die. If it had gone the other … well, I shudder to think." *The Bonehunter campaigns as experienced by Fiddler and his squad, who were all gamed by individual players. **The siege and escape from Y’Ghatan in The Bonehunters. **The campaign against Letheras in Reaper's Gale. **The campaign activities in Dust of Dreams and The Crippled God, including the squad's final scene. *The confrontation between Surly, Kellanved, and Dancer in Mock's Hold depicted in Night of Knives. (See Ian Esslemont's account here). An official Malazan RPG? Erikson and Esslemont have discussed making an official Malazan game book to allow fans to play their own adventures in the authors' world. In an April 2016 interview, Erikson mentioned that he and Esslemont had talked about the possibility with Steve Jackson, publisher of the GURPS system in which Malazan was born, and Jackson seemed "amenable" to the idea. Erikson said he could see a GURPS-based game proceeding as a crowd-funded project. The authors' long gestating plans for an "Encyclopedia Malazica" would serve as the foundation for the book. Erikson suggested he and Esslemont would "be happy to write little aspects for atmosphere...conversation, dialogue between characters, that kind of thing", but that the bulk of the organizational and game mechanics work would have to be done by trusted partners. Both authors are currently too busy with writing projects to take on such a project themselves.The Grim Tidings Podcast Notes and references Category:Real-world articles